[Keith]

What do you good people of this forum recomend? Who is the best tank,healer,mage etc...Any advice would be of use..Thanks

[Shadow Of Darkness]

well..I think that anyone can be a great warrior,healer and mage since they have the same abilities.but I use Vaan,Fran and Basch.dont know why though.

[Ichigo~Kurosaki]

If you want to make it were they are classed, I would go with Vaan as a Monk/Warrior/Theif, Fran Archor/Redmage, Penelo Whitemage/Summoner, Basch Warrior/Blackmage, Asch Chemist/Ninja, Balthier Gunner/Geomancer

[DragonHeart]

In all honesty, character stats don't make much difference in the long run. But just for fun, here's the level 99 stats for each character, which is the easiest way to show where they all stand.

HP:

Basch - 5778
Vaan - 5681
Balthier - 5531
Fran - 5290
Ashe - 5251
Penelo - 5096

MP:

Ashe - 349
Penelo - 346
Fran - 333
Vaan - 330
Balthier - 289
Basch - 264

Strength -

Basch - 77
Vaan - 77
Balthier - 75
Ashe - 73
Fran - 71
Penelo - 70

Magic:

Ashe - 69
Penelo - 69
Vaan - 64
Fran - 59
Basch - 58
Balthier - 56

Vitality:

Vaan - 61
Penelo - 60
Balthier - 58
Ashe - 57
Fran - 53
Basch - 47

Speed:

Balthier - 38
Vaan - 37
Ashe - 36
Penelo - 36
Fran - 36
Basch - 35

However, stats aren't all that matters anymore. You can use any character for any role because there are spells that can cover any stat difference they have. For example, a slow character like Basch can be Hasted, a character with low HP like Penelo can have Bubble, etc. So really, unless you're a hardcore max-min gamer, I would just recommend going with whomever you like best. In the long run you won't notice any huge differences and if you acquire good weapons and armor, stats in general won't mean a thing. *coughzodiacspearcough*

Also, if you want some fun ideas or challenges for your license board set up, try Cain's Need License Board Ideas? Try Past FF Characters! thread.

~DragonHeart~

[Axeman]

I never really got to grips with the whole "tank up front, healer and archer at the rear" thing.
Basically as I was playing the game through I found Swords to be the best type of weapon for early on in the game so I just got everyone to use them!
Then as the game progressed I was just levelling everyone up equally and equipping the entire party with whatever the strongest weapon I could buy at the time was. Six of this, six of that...
By the time I reached some of the harder challenges toward the end of the game, everyone in my party had almost completely opened up the license board and were all at much higher levels than strictly necessary at that time.
Consquently I would just initiate a battle and let everyone attack relentlessly whilst lobbing in the occasional spell to heal or just for variety!
Because of this I didn't really like the battle system in FF12, it seemed shallow. However, when I get around to playing it again I'll probably try to "specialise" the characters in order to get the most out of it, as I'm sure there's more to it than I first thought.

[scamrock]

Originally Posted by Axeman

I never really got to grips with the whole "tank up front, healer and archer at the rear" thing.
Basically as I was playing the game through I found Swords to be the best type of weapon for early on in the game so I just got everyone to use them!
Then as the game progressed I was just levelling everyone up equally and equipping the entire party with whatever the strongest weapon I could buy at the time was. Six of this, six of that...
By the time I reached some of the harder challenges toward the end of the game, everyone in my party had almost completely opened up the license board and were all at much higher levels than strictly necessary at that time.
Consquently I would just initiate a battle and let everyone attack relentlessly whilst lobbing in the occasional spell to heal or just for variety!
Because of this I didn't really like the battle system in FF12, it seemed shallow. However, when I get around to playing it again I'll probably try to "specialise" the characters in order to get the most out of it, as I'm sure there's more to it than I first thought.

I basically had each character branch out a different way on the license board. But as you are completing the board and everybody starts to become similar, what kept them apart for me was the way I had the gambits set up for each character.